Apply now or wait - what would you do?

Jazzking

Hiya,

I've been watching with disappointment the decline of the true fee-free BT cards and have a question.

My current 0% deal with Sainsbury's ends on 4th Janury 2006, and I still have £1500 left so I'm looking to BT this to another card, preferably on a 0% deal so I can pay it off before the 0% runs out.

However, only LTSB and Ulster have 0% for 9months fee free BTs at the moment due to most other CC companies dropping out. Should I wait for a month or so before thinking about applying to make the most of my existing 0% deal but run the risk of there being no fee free BTs left, or should I apply now and lose out on a few months 0%, in order to get a fee free card?

To complicate matters further, I've recently (in the last 2 weeks) closed down a couple of my old CCs to free up some available credit, but how long with these take to mark as settled on my credit report? I don't want to apply now, and find I'm declined and then have to apply again in December as I'll have had about 3 searches on my file in 2 months and it'll reduce the likelihood of getting accepted the 2nd time...

Any advice?

Thanks!
Alex

YorkshireBoy

Jazzking wrote:

However, only LTSB and Ulster have 0% for 9months fee free BTs at the moment due to most other CC companies dropping out.

Some other fee-free alternatives, with 5-10 months introductory periods, are Barclaycard (via the https://www.barclays.co.uk link as discussed on this site), HSBC, M&S, Yorkshire Bank, Clydesdale Bank, Morgan Stanley, or Co-op. Mint might also be an option, as they'll let you BT for free after 30th November.

Jazzking wrote:

Any advice?

I'm not sure how long providers take to mark your file as "settled". However, until they do, this "available" credit could hinder you with further applications - as will too many searches as you know.

I'd be inclined to wait a while, and then make an application towards the end of November. With only £1,500 to BT, a £30 fee isn't going to hurt too much if they're all charging fees by then - and it's still better than paying 15.9% with Sainsburys.

Jazzking

Thanks for your help YB, I think I will wait a month or so and take my chances with the fee-free cards. Like you said, I don't want to ruin my chances of getting another card when I realy need it and be stuck with 15.9% on Sainsbury's which would cost me the equivalent of the BT fee in the first 6 weeks...

I'd still be interested to know if anyone knows how long it takes for cards to be marked as settled though...

Reaper

The companies normally seem to update the CRAs once a month. So I'd expect your file to be updated inside of a month of it being marked as closed on their systems. Note, however, they may keep the card open for another month after you ask for it to be closed in case there are any transactions still in the pipeline. So 1 - 2 months.